Located in:
- Program-specific Requirements for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Activities under Title I-B
The Unified or Combined State Plan must include the following with respect to activities carried out under subtitle B--
a. 1. B. Describe the Process Used for Designating Local Areas, Including Procedures for Determining Whether the Local Area Met the Criteria for “performed Successfully” and “sustained Fiscal Integrity” in Accordance with 106(b)(2) and (3) of WIOA. Describe the Process Used for Identifying Regions and Planning Regions Under Section 106(a) of WIOA. This Must Include a Description of How the State Consulted with the Local Boards and Chief Elected Officials in Identifying the Regions.
Current Narrative:
Under the provisions of WIOA, Section 106(b)(2) clearly indicates that during the two years after the Act was passed: “….The Governor shall approve a request for initial designation as a local area from any area that was designated as a local area for purposes of the Workforce Investment Act…… and performed successfully, and sustained fiscal integrity.
In Missouri, each local workforce investment board previously established under WIA, formally requested initial designation as a local area under these provisions. These requests were officially provided from each region in a letter from each region’s Chief Elected Official.
Given these requests for initial designation, each region was assessed by workforce development staff as to whether the local area performed successfully on the premise of their successful outcomes in performance measures. Because no region sustained the failure to meet its negotiated performance targets, within any measure, for the preceding two program years, each was deemed to have performed successfully. In addition, each former region was assessed to determine if there had been any finding of non-compliance or for any reason had met conditions of insufficient fiscal integrity, and none were found.
Given that each former WIA region’s designation request came from elected officials, and each met these criteria, they were approved as originally designated for WIOA in the same regional structure as WIA. The state plan clearly posted for public comment these regional designations.
Regional Planning Designation
Through the efforts of workforce development staff support, in both the Division of Workforce Development and in the labor market research staff of the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, an assessment of a wide range of labor market information was used to define the areas most ideally suited for regional planning.
A detailed proposal was prepared in compliance with WIOA Section 106(b)(B) for the consideration of: Consistency with labor market areas; Consistent with regional economic development areas in the state; and Have available resources to effectively administer all activities, including whether the areas have appropriate education and training providers, such as higher education, and area career and technical education schools.
As a result of presenting this research to workforce development board directors and their staff, each regions chief elected officials and local workforce board was also informed. In addition, this labor market analysis and recommendation for two regional planning areas was presented to local elected officials attending Missouri’s Sector Strategies “kick-off” meeting and openly discussed as to origin and planning areas. Finally, each proposed regional planning area was presented for public comment when the State Plan was posted for same.